IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agrhuv/v36y2019i2d10.1007_s10460-019-09912-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Faith in international agricultural development: Conservation Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Corné J. Rademaker

    (Wageningen University
    Woord en Daad Foundation)

  • Henk Jochemsen

    (Wageningen University)

Abstract

The role of faith and religion in international development cooperation is hotly debated today. The legitimacy of this role remains, however, often confided to instrumental reasons. Yet, thinking about faith and religion only in instrumental terms leaves unquestioned the possibility of a religious background of development cooperation as a practice itself and the potential role of faith through individual practitioners that operate within secular NGOs, and research and policy institutes. The aim of the present paper is therefore to consider the structural role of faith and worldview in relation to agricultural development, moving beyond the discourse of instrumentality. We do this by focusing on Giller and Andersson’s political agronomy analysis of the promotion of Conservation Agriculture in Zimbabwe by the faith-based organisation ‘Foundations for Farming’. We argue that a distinction should be made between religion as a practice of believers and faith functioning as a worldview in every practice. In addition, we argue that it is helpful to distinguish between different kinds of practices involved in agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa, namely farming practice, agronomic scientific practice, and faith practice. The value of this philosophical analysis is that it challenges a dichotomous model of ‘science-based versus faith-based’ approaches to agricultural development. Furthermore, specific kinds of normativity are identified as always already functioning inside practices, rather than practices being neutral spaces that are (subjectively) infused with normativity by applying external ethical standards.

Suggested Citation

  • Corné J. Rademaker & Henk Jochemsen, 2019. "Faith in international agricultural development: Conservation Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(2), pages 199-212, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:36:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10460-019-09912-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-019-09912-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10460-019-09912-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10460-019-09912-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fr�d�ric Baudron & Jens A. Andersson & Marc Corbeels & Ken E. Giller, 2012. "Failing to Yield? Ploughs, Conservation Agriculture and the Problem of Agricultural Intensification: An Example from the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(3), pages 393-412, March.
    2. Ben Jones & Marie Petersen, 2011. "Instrumental, Narrow, Normative? Reviewing recent work on religion and development," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(7), pages 1291-1306.
    3. Jenny Lunn, 2009. "The Role of Religion, Spirituality and Faith in Development: a critical theory approach," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(5), pages 937-951.
    4. Arun Agrawal, 1995. "Dismantling the Divide Between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 26(3), pages 413-439, July.
    5. Gerard Clarke, 2006. "Faith matters: faith-based organisations, civil society and international development," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(6), pages 835-848.
    6. Leland Glenna, 2002. "Operationalizing evil: Christian realism, liberal economics, and industrial agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 19(3), pages 205-216, September.
    7. Stephen J. Plant, 2009. "International development and belief in progress," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(6), pages 844-855.
    8. James Sumberg & John Thompson & Philip Woodhouse, 2013. "Why agronomy in the developing world has become contentious," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(1), pages 71-83, March.
    9. Duncan McDuie-Ra & John A. Rees, 2010. "Religious actors, civil society and the development agenda: The dynamics of inclusion and exclusion," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 20-36.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Barbara Bompani, 2019. "Religion and development: Tracing the trajectories of an evolving sub-discipline," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 19(3), pages 171-185, July.
    2. Matthew Clarke & Vicki-Anne Ware, 2015. "Understanding faith-based organizations: How FBOs are contrasted with NGOs in international development literature," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 15(1), pages 37-48, January.
    3. Edvin Xhango, 2016. "Description of Fiscal Legislation and Changes in Years in Albania," European Journal of Economics and Business Studies Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 2, ejes_v2_i.
    4. Smith, Jonathan D., 2017. "Positioning Missionaries in Development Studies, Policy, and Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 63-76.
    5. Breda Gray, 2016. "The Politics of Migration, Church, and State: A Case Study of the Catholic Church in Ireland," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 315-351, June.
    6. Lalani, Baqir & Aminpour, Payam & Gray, Steven & Williams, Meredith & Büchi, Lucie & Haggar, Jeremy & Grabowski, Philip & Dambiro, José, 2021. "Mapping farmer perceptions, Conservation Agriculture practices and on-farm measurements: The role of systems thinking in the process of adoption," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    7. Andrew McGregor, 2010. "Geographies of Religion and Development: Rebuilding Sacred Spaces in Aceh, Indonesia, after the Tsunami," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(3), pages 729-746, March.
    8. Deneulin, Séverine & Zampini-Davies, Augusto, 2017. "Engaging development and religion: Methodological groundings," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 110-121.
    9. Lalani, Baqir & Dorward, Peter & Holloway, Garth & Wauters, Erwin, 2016. "Smallholder farmers' motivations for using Conservation Agriculture and the roles of yield, labour and soil fertility in decision making," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 80-90.
    10. Evren Tok & Abdurahman J. Yesuf & Abdulfatah Mohamed, 2022. "Sustainable Development Goals and Islamic Social Finance: From Policy Divide to Policy Coherence and Convergence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-23, June.
    11. Jens Koehrsen & Marian Burchardt, 2024. "Religion and Development: Alternative Visions, Credibility, and Networks as Religious Assets for Sustainable Development?," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 24(2), pages 129-146, April.
    12. Harry Spaling & Kendra Kooy, 2019. "Farming God’s Way: agronomy and faith contested," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(3), pages 411-426, September.
    13. Piers Blaikie, 2000. "Development, Post-, Anti-, and Populist: A Critical Review," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(6), pages 1033-1050, June.
    14. Clarke, Matthew, 2011. "Innovative Delivery Mechanisms for Increased Aid Budgets," WIDER Working Paper Series 073, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Hardy, Derrylea J. & Patterson, Murray G., 2012. "Cross-cultural environmental research in New Zealand: Insights for ecological economics research practice," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 75-85.
    16. Valbuena, Diego & Tui, Sabine Homann-Kee & Erenstein, Olaf & Teufel, Nils & Duncan, Alan & Abdoulaye, Tahirou & Swain, Braja & Mekonnen, Kindu & Germaine, Ibro & Gérard, Bruno, 2015. "Identifying determinants, pressures and trade-offs of crop residue use in mixed smallholder farms in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 107-118.
    17. Grabowski, Philip P. & Kerr, John M. & Haggblade, Steven & Kabwe, Stephen, 2014. "Determinants of Adoption of Minimum Tillage by Cotton Farmers in Eastern Zambia," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 188567, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    18. Arts, Bas & de Koning, Jessica, 2017. "Community Forest Management: An Assessment and Explanation of its Performance Through QCA," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 315-325.
    19. Giuseppe Bolotta & Catherine Scheer & R. Michael Feener, 2019. "Translating religion and development: Emerging perspectives from critical ethnographies of faith-based organizations," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 19(4), pages 243-263, October.
    20. Cuestas-Caza, Javier & Toledo, Lucía & Rodríguez, Fabricio, 2024. "Transcultural bioeconomy governance in a plurinational state: Sumak Kawsay and bio-based production in two Kichwa territories of Ecuador," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:36:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s10460-019-09912-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.